Pneumatic tires configured with rubber, organic fiber materials, steel members, and the like are traditionally employed in vehicles such as cars.
Recently, the use of resin materials, in particular thermoplastic resins, thermoplastic elastomers, and the like, as tire materials is being investigated from the perspectives of weight reduction, ease of molding, and ease of recycling.
For example, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2003-104008) and Patent Document 2 (JP-A No. H03-143701) disclose a pneumatic tire formed using a thermoplastic polymer material.